My First MacDonald’s Birthday Party

I attended my first MacDonald’s birthday party recently. It’s not my birthday, of course… it’s one of  Vanessa’s classmate’s birthday celebration. I probably headed down to the party with as much excitement as Vanessa because, well, I’ve never been to such a party. I imagined that Ronald MacDonald, or someone in his likeness, would be there to entertain everyone. Well, it didn’t quite turn out how I’d have expected the party to be. There was no Ronald MacDonald. There was also no air-con… so it was kind of hot for a sunny afternoon.

After taking all the kid’s lunch order… the MacDonald’s staff suddenly realized they had no apple juice. It’s one of the popular choices on the kid’s menu. I was thinking… how could they run out of apple juice? Apparently they also ran out of green tea for the adult’s menu choices. But never mind the adults. This was a kid’s party… surely they should have made sure the kids’ items were sufficiently stocked?

I don’t know if the party was too big, or the MacDonald’s staff were just not very good at handling the party. We waited and waited for our food. I imagined it would have been faster had all of us gone to the counter to order the food ourselves. The meals for the adults were delivered by “courses”: First, the drinks came. Next, the fries. It took so long, by the time the fries were delivered, your drink would have been half finished. Then the burger came… so long after that you’d have about finished your fries too. I very much prefer all my meal components to come together.

The kids part was another story. But this time, I can’t blame the MacDonald’s staff. The parents and caregivers were really “problematic”. First of all, the kids’ area was already so crammed… yet several parents insisted on squeezing in with their kids. It made it next to impossible for the MacDonald’s staff to maneuver in that tiny area.

Then, also the problematic parents who don’t let their kid have certain food/drinks, but yet still want to order that food/drink for the kid. So there was this kid who was not allowed to have ice milo, but one was ordered for him. The MacDonald’s staff set down a ice milo in front of the kid. It was taken away by the parent. The MacDonald’s staff looked around, noticed this kid still doesn’t have a drink, checked, and plonked down a second ice milo. It was taken away again. Then it repeated yet again, a third ice milo was delivered to this kid. It was yet again taken away. *sigh*

Another one was about burger… burger set down, burger removed, Burger delivered again, removed again. Why, why do you order something for the kid if he or she is not allowed to have it? If he/she is not allowed to have anything at all… then why not just tell the MacDonald’s staff in the first place???

Lunch took too much time. But eventually, the games begun and, fortunately, it was a lot better than lunch. It could be because there were less parents interfering in the games. I think the kids were very excited about all the MacDonald’s prizes they were getting. Vanessa was. Long after the party… she’s still asking for the various MacDonald’s stuffs she got. (Ah, but she isn’t asking for a MacDonald’s birthday party.)